


The Salt on Your Skin is Pulling Me In

by Ah Piss (Loki_Likey_Thor_Odinson)



Series: Sniper/Spy [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - See Notes, Drowning, M/M, Slow Burn, Tentaspy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-12 11:58:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11161398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loki_Likey_Thor_Odinson/pseuds/Ah%20Piss
Summary: Michael Mundy thought he was going to drown when the crocodile knocked him into the waters whilst hunting. Either that, or the croc was gonna have him. But there's something in the Australian rivers that no one knows about and Mundy finds himself surviving another day.But then his dog finds some weird creature trying to escape into a small puddle of water, and Mundy doesn't realise how much his life is about to change.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No MannCo at this point in time - to come in the future of the fic  
> Tentaspy is tagged as BLU Spy but there will be another Spy on the team in the future
> 
> Details on tentaspy to come later on when he's introduced more.

He couldn’t breathe. That was one thing he was sure of. Michael Mundy was slowly drowning. He didn’t remember how he got here, caught in the lake where he hunted every day with his father. They were on the boat, going after a crocodile, when the boat had jolted. Mundy had caught his head on the side of the boat and when he opened his eyes, he was sinking further and further under the water. The sun could barely be seen through the murky waters and he was sinking deeper each second. Alarm bells were sounding in his head, his arms and legs were trying to get him to move, to rush for the surface, but they couldn’t move. Something was wrapped around them. Mundy turned his head, trying to see what it was, but all he could see was a blue… tentacle?   
  
Something shot by him and Mundy let out a scream under the water, recognizing the bulky shape as a crocodile. Suddenly, he was jerked to the side, and it felt like one of his ribs was crushed. He was quickly coming to the last of the oxygen in his lungs, and the murky brown of the water was slowly beginning to turn black. The crocodile had turned around in the water and was coming for him again. He prayed he would fall unconscious before it got to him.   
  
And then there was something there, in between them. A man, without a shirt and with black hands – or was his vision playing tricks on him? His torso melded into what looked like an octopus’s legs and body, and Mundy shook his head before finally, finally, the blackness took him.

 

-xox-

 

White light blinded Mundy as he tried to flicker his eyes open. He groaned and pulled a hand up to cover his face. Carefully, he sat upright, feeling around with his other hand. He was on a damp floor; it was cold and gritty, some kind of cave, maybe? But why was there so much light? Pointing his head down to the floor, Mundy let his eyes flicker open carefully before looking around. There was a massive hole in the ceiling, allowing the Australian sun to pour into the cavern he was in. Looking around, there was nothing but dark rocks surrounding him. Groaning, Mundy rubbed his head before trying to stand.  
  
“You should stay sat down for a while.”  
  
Mundy froze, eyes darting around. He could see nothing around the cave, there was no one around to talk to him. He stood up, rather sharply and regretted it almost immediately. A wave of dizziness took hold of him and he had to bend over to stop himself landing on the ground.   
  
“Who are ya and where the fuck are ya?”  
  
“None of that concerns you.”  
  
“What the-”  
  
“A crocodile attacked you and your father whilst you were hunting. You fell in the waters, it came for you, I saved you. Now climb out, go home and let your family know you are alive.”  
  
Despite the echo, Mundy managed to get an idea of where the voice was, and looked to his right. He could see a small hole in the wall, and what looked like a small shape inside of it. Whoever had saved him was in there, surely.   
  
“I… thank ya, mate.”  
  
He walked towards the hole in the wall, only for an ear splitting screech to echo through the cave. Mundy wheezed and bent over, covering his ears.  
  
“I said leave.”  
  
Mundy took a breath as the sound stopped, stumbling away from the hole in the wall, staring into it. He should have a look, find out what the heck he was dealing with. What the hell had saved him? His ears still rang. He took a step forward again, only to stop when he heard sirens, and someone screaming his name. Looking up at the hole in the ceiling, he blinked a little.  
  
“Michael Mundy! You down there?”  
  
Mundy cast one more glance at the hole in the wall before looking up. “Yeh! Someone wanna get me out of this damn cave?”  
  
“ _We found ‘im!_ ”  
  
Mundy took a breath before moving a little closer to the rock face. He could see what looked like a man in there, curled up, hugging himself. “Hey yer should… yer should come with me. Ya look kinda cold where ya are. Get yer warmed up.”  
  
“I’m fine. Please, leave me.”  
  
“Can I at least get yer name? I’m Mundy, Michael Mundy uh. I’m sure mah parents will want to thank yer for saving me Mr…?”  
  
Silence followed his statement. The sound of a crane above the ground distracted his attention and Mundy flickered his eyes between the two holes.  
  
“My name is Jean.”  
  
“Jean, ey? For a French guy, yer pretty far from home.”  
  
Silence again. The clanking of something being lowered sounded up and Mundy took another step forward. “Hey, Jean, come on. Come back with me.”  
  
“Please leave me alone.” The man, Jean, had tucked himself even further into the hole in the wall. In the shadows, Mundy could just about make out the small figure. He was curled up tightly into a ball, almost completely naked. Maybe naked, he couldn’t see right. His head was hidden behind his arms, almost completely hidden from view.   
  
Mundy took another step forward and reached out a hand. “Jean?”  
  
A hand shot out of the hole and Mundy jerked backwards, grabbing his arm as scratches began to ooze blood. The belt was almost fully down into the cavern and Mundy took several steps back so he could grab onto it to start securing it to himself.  
  
“I… Thank yer.. I guess. Jean. Yer saved mah life.”  
  
Without a word passing after that, Mundy looked up yelling that he was ready to be brought up. He turned back to the hole in the wall, staring at the small pale foot, smudged with dirt and grit hanging into the tiny portion of sunlight cutting through the shadows to the right of the cave.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~~Honestly, this is just me fucking around with my Tentaspy and introducing him a little in a filler chapter~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on Tentaspy!
> 
> \- Has his usual large form  
> \- Also has a tiny form of that form  
> \- Has a human-like form - the imagining of [this](http://beastysoul.deviantart.com/art/vent-art2-tentaspy-sniper-479927543) fan art
> 
> (This is also what low-key inspired this whole fiction)

_The cold tiles of the hospital floor were an assault to his sensitive feet. Each step hurt as he scurried through the shadows, making his way upwards. He was darting through staircases and making his way to the floor he had heard the man was. He wanted to make sure he was okay._  
  
_It was a strange feeling._  
  
_Usually, he would have drowned him, but he had watched the man come to the river daily, look after the local wildlife, only hunt enough to keep numbers down. He never did any harm to the river or hurt animals unnecessarily. He wasn’t able to stand by and do nothing._  
  
_So now here he was, avoiding every human in this building, trying to get to the room he was currently being kept in. It had been harder than he thought but finally, finally he had managed to get there._  
  
_He lingered in the corner, watching the man as he slept. The rhythmic beeping of the monitors made his sensitive ears ache, but he stepped forward, grateful there was blinds pulled over the windows. His hand found the edge of the metal railings on the bed, and he stared down._  
  
_Michael Mundy._

 

_That was his name._

 

 _Michael Mundy, who was now peacefully sleeping in a hospital bed, surviving almost being drowned and an almost crocodile attack._  
  
_Slowly, his eyes found the bandage on Michael Mundy’s right forearm, the delicate lines of blood able to be seen through it. He clenched his own right hand, cursing himself for hurting the man, but he couldn’t get close. No one could get close._  
  
_If he let Michael Mundy help him, he’d be back in hell, like he had been in Germany- He forced himself to stop those thoughts where they were. The past was the past, and he refused to look back to it._  
  
_He reached down, his scaled fingers brushing over the sleeping man’s face, only to freeze when he stirred a little. Michael Mundy groaned, a hand coming up to bat away whatever was touching his face. He pulled his hand away, breathing quickly as Michael Mundy rolled over, settling back into sleep._  
  
_A sigh of relief escaped his lips before he heard the door knob twisting and clicking open. In the blink of an eye and a small poof of smoke, he turned to his smaller form, rushing to hide behind one of the bed posts, hands gripping the metal behind him._  
  
_“He’s a lucky man.”_  
  
_“Still can’t explain what made those weird cuts on his arm. Lucky or not, we might have to get animal control to take a look at them. Maybe there’s some creature on the loose.”_  
  
_“By the looks of things, that weird creature might have somehow saved him. Maybe it was a bear or something like that. Explains the broken ribs.”_  
  
_“Are you trying to tell me drop bears actually exist now?”_  
  
_There was a soft laughter between the two nurses and he peered around the bed post to stare up at them._  
  
_“You know, there was video footage of a drop bear attack in South Australia.”_  
  
_“I don’t know. The whole folk lore of them seems weird. Remember, they were just created to scare travellers.”_  
  
_The other nurse shrugged and then turned around after making notes on Michael Mundy’s clipboard. They both left and the room turned silent again. He slowly crept out of his hiding place, turning back to his original form. He shivered again in the temperature change on his skin and then made his way to the window._  
  
_“Perhaps we’ll see each other again, Michael Mundy.”_  
  
_Without another word, he was gone, lost to the dark of the early hours of the morning._


	3. Chapter 3

The hospital stay was surprisingly brief. Mundy only stayed in the single room he had been put in for a day, joking around with his parents before being released. The hospital were surprised at how well his health had been from almost drowning, and they were still clueless as to what had made the deep cuts in his arm. Mundy had lied, said he woke up with them and didn’t know what had caused them.  
  
Now, back home, he still thought back to Jean, the mysterious man that had saved his life without a word more than _leave me_. Mundy thought about it – he didn’t know any French people that lived in the town. The accent of the man had given it away, and Mundy tried to figure out where he might live. He wanted to thank him properly, more than just a _thanks, I guess_ , but that seemed impossible.  
  
Mundy had barely slept for the three nights he had been out of the hospital, and when he did, his dreams were full of a fish-man hybrid, tentacles streaming around him, and he woke up with a start.  
  
Now, on the fourth day he had been out of the hospital, he decided to leave the house, sick of being pent up. His Father didn’t allow him to go hunting with him on the river, said that they should have some time for his parents to get over what had happened, so, instead, he grabbed his rifle to do some target practice, and took Shep for a walk. The large Chesapeake bay retriever had been more than happy to bound down the porch steps, the Australian sun making his golden coat glow, almost, and Mundy had chuckled.  
  
“Been a while since I took ya fer a long one, ey, Shep?”  
  
The retriever barked in response and bolted down the walk way from the house into the woods. Mundy laughed and broke into a jog to catch up with him, eyes scanning for anything. There had been news reporters around for the first two days he had been discharged from hospital, wanting to get a story from him. He denied all of them and had continued living in the house, not even leaving to sit on the porch. The coast was clear and, thankfully, he caught up with Shep. He bent down to stroke the dog’s head, smiling at the happy panting coming from him before chucking a treat for him further into the woods. Mundy watched the retriever bolt off, barking as he did.  
  
A smile crossed over his lips and he stepped over the threshold into the small woods, looking around. Readying his rifle, he held it up as he walked, crossed over his body to be ready for shooting. Maybe he could get a few small birds, they could cook up a barbecue. It would be nice to relax on the back porch with his parents, throwing Shep some meat here and there.  
  
Frowning, Mundy realised that Shep hadn’t come back yet, and he turned in the direction of where the dog had gone. He could just about see the shine of his coat and Mundy sighed. “Shep! Here boy!”  
  
The dog ignored him. Mundy frowned deeper. That wasn’t like Shep. Maybe he’d got caught in some kind of hunting trap left out here – that had happened before – but then again, he wasn’t making any noises of pain. More than likely, he’d smelt something and didn’t want to leave it. Sighing, Mundy made his way over.  
  
“Shep!”  
  
The dog didn’t turn around, again, unlike him. Mundy could see his tail wagging and then heard a small squeak of pain. Breaking into a jog, he rushed over to the dog to see something flailing in his mouth.  
  
“Shep! Drop it!”  
  
When Shep didn’t listen again, Mundy knelt down, putting his rifle down. His thumbs carefully hooked into the dog’s mouth, forcing him to open, and the small animal fell from his mouth. Mundy made a soft _tch_ in his throat before looking down… and freezing.  
  
There was a tiny… he didn’t even know. It looked like the body of a man attached to an octopus’s lower body, and it was trying to scramble away into a small puddle. One of the legs was bleeding, an obvious cut bleeding, slipping down it’s blue legs. “Look what ya did, Shep.”  
  
Mundy didn’t know how to handle this. What the hell was this? He took a short breath and then reached out, carefully scooping the creature up. It immediately started making a small noise, almost… screaming, and bit Mundy’s finger. He cursed and almost dropped it, before cupping his hand a little tighter around it. “’ey! I’m tryna put ya in the water so yer can get to it.”  
  
Almost as if it understood, slowly, the small creature let go of his finger and watched him with sharp, yellow eyes. Mundy carefully tipped his hand above the puddle, letting the creature fall into it with a soft splash. Immediately, it tried to disappear under the surface, but the puddle was too shallow. Mundy watched as it tried to scramble over to the next nearest puddle, only for it to shriek when it tried to walk.  
  
“’ey be careful wi’ that leg. Looks like Shep did a number on ya, huh? Come ‘ere, let me ‘elp.”  
  
The creature watched him with interest as Mundy carefully scooped him up and stood, walking over to the next puddle to gently put it in the water. The creature ducked down, eyes the only thing able to be seen. Mundy frowned, watching it.  
  
It was no bigger than his hand, with about twelve different tentacles. The tentacles themselves were a deep, dark blue, like the dark blue of the night sky before it turned completely black. It’s tiny arms were stained black from the hands up to the elbows, and then ran into almost pure white over the tops of it’s arms and chest. It’s face looked vaguely familiar, but the yellow eyes and sharp teeth made Mundy wary.  
  
“’ey as a sorry fer my dog chewing on ya… ‘ow about I take ya home and patch that leg up fer ya. Can get you a jar full o’water or summin until ya legs healed up and yer can walk.” He rest his hand on the ground, palm up, and the creature did nothing. It’s eyes flickered to the right, focusing on the dog behind Mundy, and Mundy looked at Shep.  
  
“Shep, sit.”  
  
The dog slowly sat down and Mundy turned back to the small creature. “’e won’t hurt ya. ‘e probably thought yer were a toy or summin. I won’t let him pick yer up again.”  
  
Slowly, the creature made its way out of the centre of the puddle, making small noises of pain each time it did. Finally, when Mundy realised it was moving for his hand, he reached out, ever so carefully picking it up. “There ya go.” Carefully, he stood, holding his hands close to his chest so the small creature had some support before turning around. He picked his gun up with one hand and then started heading towards the edge of the woods.  
  
“We’ll get that patched up and yer’ll be back on yer way in a few days. Sorry about Shep… ‘e has a thing fer picking things up and chewing.”  
  
The creature didn’t seemed amused at all as it settled in his hand. Mundy sighed and whistled Shep.  
  
His life was really starting to get strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering - Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are a kind of hunting dog that belong to the Retriever, Gundog and Sporting breeds groups. They were originally bred to get ducks out of the waters of the cold Chesapeake Bay as the hunters didn't want to go in to get their kills due to the cold waters. 
> 
> I can just really see Sniper with one of these gorgeous doggos. And he's called Shep. Because it's the only thing I could think of.


	4. Chapter 4

Mundy peered around the doorway to the kitchen, checking the coast was clear. “Ma? Pa?”  
  
No response came and Mundy walked in, carefully placing the small creature on the kitchen counter. It was desperately starting to lick at the wound on its leg, in obvious pain, and Mundy couldn’t stop the heart wrenching feeling that took over his chest.  
  
“I’ll get it sorted in a minute, little guy. Ya need some water, right?”  
  
It paused in its licking to look up, yellow eyes round and large, almost looking scared. Slowly, it nodded, before going back to frantically lick at the wound that seemed to be getting worse. Wasting no time, Mundy stood quickly, finding one of the jars that his Ma made jam in. He wrenched the lid off and filled it with water before setting it down on the counter.  
  
“Picking ya up, little guy.”  
  
The creature stopped to allow Mundy to pick it up and, carefully, the hunter slipped it into the water. Picking the jar up, Mundy rushed through to his bedroom and set it down on the small desk he owned, before scrambling for the small kit he kept for when he found an injured bird with a broken leg or wing.  
  
“Just lemme know when ya can come out the water and I’ll get that sorted as soon as I can.”  
  
Mundy had no idea what he was doing. He’d never worked on an aquatic creature before, unless you counted crocodiles, and this… was no crocodile. This was a challenge.  
  
The creature was sat at the bottom of the jar, looking miserable, almost like it was crying. Mundy frowned. “I’ll get ya a bigger tank o’ water a little later, let’s just get that leg sorted first, eh?” Carefully, he dipped his finger into the jar, reaching down to stroke the creature’s head. It looked startled at first, before slowly, it pushed its head against the pad of Mundy’s finger. The hunter couldn’t help but chuckle.  
  
“And t’think a moment ago yer were trying t’gnaw mah finger off, huh?”  
  
The creature gave a tiny smile, and Mundy finally realised… this creature did understand him. Frowning a little bit, he pulled his hand back, opening the small kit in front of him. A splint wasn’t going to help here, the waterproof bandages he kept for ducks would; would butterfly stitches work? Maybe he’d have to sew the tentacle up properly. He wasn’t sure.  
  
“Aight little guy, Imma admit, I ain’t too sure what I’m doing here.” He carefully picked the jar up, tipping it so that the small creature could crawl onto his hand. “Might have t’stitch that, which is gonna be painful, and I’m sorry, little dude, but we can’t have ya like this.”  
  
The creature looked up, forlorn, scared again and Mundy made a soft shushing noise. “I promise, it’ll be aight.” He smiled a little and set the creature down, moving a finger to stroke its head again. “Just stay still fer me, and then we’ll get ya back in the jar and settled down.”  
  
The creature nodded a little and seemed to sit down, the injured tentacle resting on the desk in front of the hunter. Mundy ripped open a small anti septic wipe before hesitating. “This is gonna sting a little, aight? Only last fer a few seconds but it’ll keep it clean.”  
  
Slowly, the creature nodded, and Mundy carefully wrapped the wipe around the tentacle, quickly pushing it down the smooth feature. The creature made a screech, and tried to scramble away, only to find Mundy’s other hand behind it. “I know little dude, I know, I hate this as much as yer do. Wiping down cuts is the worst thing fer me, but hey.” He chucked the wipe in the bin by his desk. “It’s all done now. Weren’t so bad, huh?”  
  
The creature glared. Mundy had to stifle a small laugh.  
  
Carefully, he lifted the tentacle a little, ever so softly pulling the small wound apart to have a look. It wasn’t too deep, so it shouldn’t need stitches unless the bleeding got too bad – then again, it lived in water, so maybe it was just looking worse than it was. Carefully, he applied a butterfly stitch to it, making sure it was tight and the skin was closed. Slowly, he cut a waterproof bandage apart, making it as small as it could be before moving to wrap it and tie it around the wound. He pulled it as tight as he dared, and then settled back a little.  
  
“That should do it, but I’ll have t’keep checking it. Make sure it’s healing alright, aight, little dude?”  
  
The creature nodded, staring at the desk and Mundy carefully picked it up, helping it back into the jar of water. “Just settle down, aight? I’m gonna go look fer a bigger jar or summin fer ya to stay in while ya here.”  
  
The creature sat with its back to Mundy and he sighed, standing. Making his way through to the kitchen, he rubbed his temple. What the heck was happening? He had some weird hybrid creature sitting in a jar in his room. Glancing down at the bite on his finger, he chewed on his lip before sighing and washing his hand under the sink. Drying it down, he grabbed a plaster from the first aid kit, wrapping it around his finger before starting to look around.

He didn’t know what kind of jar or tank to put this thing it. Did it need a certain type of water? Fresh water, perhaps? He gritted his teeth and pulled down the old empty fish jar that had just been collecting dust for the past who knew how many years. He’d had a few fish when he was younger, but they’d died relatively quickly, and the spherical tank had been in the kitchen since then.  
  
Screwing his nose up a little, Mundy filled it was hot water and washing up liquid, leaving it to soak before grabbing an orange from the table. He checked in on Shep, huddled away in his bed in the utilities room and frowned a little. “Sorry, Shep. I’ll take yer on a longer one later on. Promise.” He reached out to scratch the dog behind the ears before making his way back to his bedroom. He settled on the bed, peeling the orange slowly as he lay back, staring at the ceiling.  
  
He was about to chew on the first segment when he heard a strange sound from across the room. Rolling over onto his right side, his eyes fell on the jar, the creature half hanging out. It was staring at the orange segment in his hand and Mundy glanced at it. “Ya hungry, little guy?”  
  
It nodded and made small grabby hands at the orange. Chuckling, Mundy stood up, making his way over to sit back down at the desk. Carefully, he handed the segment to the creature, who squealed in delight. It stayed hanging over the edge of the jar, nibbling away on it, and Mundy rested his head in his hand, watching it. It seemed so docile, whatever it was.  
  
“Suppose I should give yer a name whilst ya here, huh, little dude?”  
  
It glanced up for a mere second before focusing back on the orange.  
  
“’ey! Eat that slow, I don’t want yer choking on me, dude.” Mundy leaned back in the chair, watching as the creature slowed down a little, but still wolfing the orange segment down. When it finished, it licked at its hands and then held its weight on the edge of the jar, looking up at Mundy hopefully.  
  
“Ya want another bit?”  
  
It nodded and Mundy smiled, holding another one out. The creature took it with another delighted squeal, nibbling away. Mundy watched as its tentacles seemed to stretch and curl out again with pleasure and tilted his head. “Ya really like oranges, huh? What else d’ya like t’eat?”  
  
The creature looked up with a mouthful of orange. Mundy hummed.  
  
“Strawberries?” Nod. “Banana?” Head shake. “Grapes?” Shrug. “Cherries?” Shudder.

Mundy opened his mouth to ask about kiwis, when the front door slammed shut. Almost immediately, the creature disappeared into the water, dropping the orange segment. Black ink took up the entire jar and Mundy stared at it, shocked for a moment.  
  
“’ey, it’s aight dude, it’s just mah Ma and Pa-”  
  
He cut off immediately when his Pa looked in on him. “You alright?”  
  
“Fine, Pa.”  
  
“Heard you talking to someone.”  
  
“Just mahself; musing things over.”  
  
Mundy watched his Pa nod and then step back. “Barbie for dinner tonight, back porch.”  
  
Mundy nodded again and his Pa left, yelling to his Ma about something. Mundy stood and then glanced at the jar.  
  
“Think I’ll name yer Spook whilst ya here.”  
  
As he left his room, Mundy could have sworn he heard a screech of disgust coming from the jar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Debating a bit of a twist next chapter, linking in another character from the game - thoughts?
> 
> (I've got it planned I just don't know where to put it in the story)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna bump this here but I do take commissions!
> 
> [Information can be found here](https://twitter.com/Snxpxs/status/870370471522553861)


End file.
